[donf]

Greetings all,

There is about a 8' section of outside wall / paneling in the den that is bowed to the bottom 4' of the paneled wall.

It appears to me the water got in under the soffit and wet down the fibrous insulator board under the vinyl siding. Over time, the insulating board got wetter and then collapsed downward into the bottom of the wall section thereby pushing the studs and inside panelling toward the inside of the den.

1) How big a deal is it to remove the paneling and insulator board and reset or replace the studs and possibly the header?

2) How do I lift the Header to a level position to put new studs in?

Can the insulator board be replaced from the inside or will I have to remove the siding? If I remove the siding, can I reuse it after the wall itself is fixed.

3) Is this a DIY task?

[ballengerb1]

Come on Boat, Jon and the rest of you, lets give Don some sage advice here.

[21boat]

How big a deal is it to remove the paneling and insulator board and reset or replace the studs and possibly the header

?
I assume this is a one story is this on a slab or a Crete/block foundation?. Either or house jacks could be in order here. Remove paneling and see if the "bowing" is mostly in the materials that fell inside the wall cavity and it pushed out the wall and not the studs.

How do I lift the Header to a level position to put new studs in?

You may or may not need to "lift" the top plate or as you refer to " header". This depends weather the studs themselves bowed also. You may not need to use house jacks here if the header is straight and level. If not then house jacks are in order here. Depending on how bowed the top plate is one or two house jacks could easily do the trick. Set the house jack on a solid floor plate of the out side wall. Use a string line from corner to corner to jack to for level/straight. After you jack up a bit in one group section remove old bowed studs and replace with new. Just move down the line. To do this a solid plate needs to be under the jacks and new studs. The old plates and floor sheeting may need also replaced here.

Can the insulator board be replaced from the inside or will I have to remove the siding? If I remove the siding, can I reuse it after the wall itself is fixed

.

Removing the outside siding here is a given. The exterior sheeting is nailed to studs and siding to sheeting. There is a small hand tool to pop the siding. Be careful to mark the siding pieces as you remove them.

Is this a DIY task?

Loaded question, how skilled are you.

I do a lot of re hap like this so for me and my crew its another day at work

[donf]

21boat,

Thanks for your assistance. Yes the house is on slab. The area in question is immediately adjacent to a 3.0 X 3.0 patio French door. It runs about 8' horizontally to the right where it is joined by a perpendicular wall that runs another 12' into the room.

From the outside I saw a little bit a bow at the "L" junction by the top plate. It appears to me that the previous owners should have placed a downspout but did not.

The soffit itself looks like it is bowing downward by about 1/2" to 3/4".

On the inside, the bottom of the paneling is pushed out in a arc toward the inside of the room. No seams on the paneling are pulled apart, which is why I think that water caused the fibrous insulator to get soaked than break apart and drop inside the wall plenums pushing it outward.

As to my experience level, "fair to middlen" or slightly above pure damgerous. :-)

[21boat]

Hi don If you are up to the task and can post pictures as you tear out I can walk you through it. The good news is you are on slab grade so jacking is easy here.

On a side note will any Home owners insurance be applicable here???

I guess the bottom line is do you want to tackle this project??